NEW YORK TIMES TAKES ITS LITTLE HATCHET TO A RACIAL DISCRIMINATION SUIT BY BLACK FARMERS. An article in the Times derogates a class action lawsuit against the USDA claiming what is a long-known fact, that this agency has conspired with local white racists to administer farm loans in a way to restrict opportunities for [...]
FEDS WANT MAJOR EXPANSION OF SECRET WIRETAP POWERS OVER WEB-BASED SERVICES. Facebook, Google, Skype and other brand names behind your favorite internet sites and programs are chafing at proposed new rules from the Obama administration that would force companies to comply with sweeping wiretaps and information requests from the FBI and Justice Department. While companies [...]
Deep and arbitrary spending cuts, part of the austerity measures hatched by Congress two years ago and known as sequestration, are beginning to take a severe toll on vulnerable Americans dependent on crucial government programs. President Obama has described the sequester as a “self-inflicted wound” on the economy that could lead to another recession. Uneducated [...]
A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING EUROPE AND AMERICA: AND IT’S NAME IS AUSTERITY. The literally killing effects of austerity measures undertaken as a solutions to the “financial crisis” are documented in a new book by David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu. Decimation of health support services is blamed with creating epidemics of everything from HIV and [...]
FOILED BY CONGRESS, GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES TURN TO STATE BALLOTS IN BID TO END VIOLENCE. Lawmakers and organizations in several states are considering whether to place gun-related amendments such as universal background checks on state ballots as soon as the 2014 elections.Though the piecemeal approach is not ideal, activists are beginning to tire of [...]
Like the election campaigns that vaulted the individuals they celebrate into office, modern American presidential libraries have become a hotbed of influence peddling, big money, and secret donations. While the outward appearance of the libraries and museums constructed by and for former presidents are the epitome of civic pride and an homage to public service, [...]
“WITH VARYING DEGREES OF CONFIDENCE.“ White House sends message to Congress saying that Syria “may” (according to U.S. intelligence agencies) have used chemical weapons against its own population. This cautious wording seems both to move U.S. toward a view that a “red line” may have been crossed that would justify (overt) U.S. intervention in [...]
IS AMERICA LOSING ITS “BACKYARD IN THE SOUTH”? Considering the U.S. and Latin American reactions to the recent Venezuelan election, it would appear that things are seriously awry for the U.S. in that backyard. While Washington tries to subvert the electoral process that (narrowly) elected a successor in the mold of Hugo Chavez, other [...]
WANT TO GET MORE BIKES ON THE ROAD IN BRITAIN? How about making it safer and more convenient for people to ride them? Only 2% of people in UK ride bicycles to work, compared with about a quarter of them in continental countries. A group of MPs are urging their colleagues, in the name of [...]
Captured by law enforcement after what was often a violent 24-hour manhunt. the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings last Monday now recovers in a hospital under the careful watch of state and federal officials. With considerable video evidence of his role in the crime, few think Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent of participating in [...]
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